PU Suspect Coverage: Alolan Exeggutor

By TJ, StickingGum, and UberSkitty. Released: 2019/02/04.
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Art by h_n_g_m_n.

Introduction

While Alolan Exeggutor was always seen as a potent offensive threat, recent metagame trends and tier shifts greatly favored it to the point where it was considered suspect worthy by the PU council in January. For example, it benefited greatly from Jellicent's arrival in PU and stood out due to its ability to take advantage of a Jellicent locked into Water Spout or Shadow Ball. At the same time, it also took advantage of Pokémon such as Mudsdale along with balance builds, which were on the rise and extremely susceptible to Alolan Exeggutor's Choice Specs set. All this give many opportunities for Alolan Exeggutor to dominate the metagame offensively. While Pokémon such as Audino and Clefairy could deal with the offensive Trick Room set, these failed to deal with the Choice Specs set, and Clefairy's usage was at an all-time low. On the other hand, while Pokémon like Skuntank and Aurorus could revenge kill Alolan Exeggutor's Choice Specs set, they lost to the OTR set, making Alolan Exeggutor rather unpredictable and hard to deal with. Additionally, few Pokémon could reliably revenge kill it, as Alolan Exeggutor had a solid defensive typing coupled with decent bulk, unlike other most wallbreakers and cleaners. The metagame during this time was also picking up pace, meaning that bulky OTR Pokémon got better due to a lack of defensive counterplay.

Sets

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OTR Alolan Exeggutor was the set many perceived to be broken and the hardest to deal with. Most of Alolan Exeggutor's offensive prowess stemmed from its amazing dual typing, good bulk, and high base 125 Special Attack stat that was further augmented by Dragonium Z. Acting mainly as a mid-or late-game sweeper and even wallbreaker that cleaned its own counters, once Alolan Exeggutor was able to set up Trick Room it would often plow through offensive and balance teams with ease, as it was very difficult to revenge kill. Additionally, it found many setup opportunities against Pokémon it forced out like Mudsdale. Dragonium Z was the most common item choice, as it allowed Alolan Exeggutor to break through bulky titans like Audino and Articuno. Giga Drain gave Alolan Exeggutor semi-reliable recovery, Draco Meteor dealt heavy damage to Pokémon like Eelektross and Roselia, and Flamethrower provided good coverage against Steel-types like Alolan Sandslash.

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Alolan Exeggutor's Choice Specs set was considered less broken by many than its Trick Room counterpart, but it did have its advantages. Its full Special Attack investment, Modest nature, and Choice Specs made it a threatening wallbreaker, and it could hit hard without using up the Z-Move like the Trick Room set would. Its great movepool included both STAB Draco Meteor and Leaf Storm and coverage in Flamethrower to hit Pokémon like Alolan Sandslash and Metang. Its decent bulk and recovery in Giga Drain made it hard to wear down; though its Speed was very poor, 44 EVs allowed it to creep Pokémon like Regirock, while it could also afford to run max Speed to creep checks like Roselia. While being locked into a single move could leave it vulnerable of being taken advantage of and easily scouted with moves like Protect and Substitute, even scouting could be risky for the opponent with the possibility that Alolan Exeggutor was running its Trick Room set instead. Furthermore, Alolan Exeggutor had very few reliable switch-ins thanks to its previously mentioned powerful movepool.

The Suspect

Ban Reasoning for Alolan Exeggutor

As mentioned before, Alolan Exeggutor had excellent versatility between its Trick Room and Choice Specs sets. The ban argument was that this, coupled with high Special Attack and good bulk, made preparation for Alolan Exeggutor very limited, since it could set up on a ton of Pokémon it forced out and pick up OHKOs with ease, as many Pokémon could not switch into its powerful STAB attacks and unresisted coverage. As a result, this made offensive counterplay limited and Alolan Exeggutor rather difficult to revenge kill. Another testament to its centralization was Regirock running Ice Punch and Hidden Power Ice being run more often on Lilligant and Eelektross, which had little to no use outside of hitting Alolan Exeggutor. While its Speed stat might have been low, it allowed Alolan Exeggutor to take advantage of Trick Room and allowed for it to outspeed walls it was meant to break. Trick Room had become such a threat that it had led to some people making their own Alolan Exeggutor level 99-97 just to outspeed opposing Alolan Exeggutors under Trick Room. Otherwise, Alolan Exeggutor could break through teams with relative ease if it managed to get it up, since it would often force opponents to sack one or two Pokémon just to stall out Trick Room turns. The other option to stall it out would be to switch Pokémon constantly in hopes that Alolan Exeggutor would make a wrong move, but even then that didn't stop Alolan Exeggutor from coming back in and setting up later in the game. While the OTR set was what was considered the unhealthy element about Alolan Exeggutor, the Choice Specs set made Alolan Exeggutor very unpredictable for an already terrifiying wallbreaker, as it could easily tear balance cores apart and required little prediction due to its sheer firepower, letting it freely spam its STAB attacks and 2HKO even Pokémon that resisted them, similarly to the OTR set. Overall, Alolan Exeggutor centralized the tier way too much around it due to its sheer firepower, incredible movepool, above average bulk for a cleaner, and versatility, to the point that many considered it unhealthy and wanted it banned.

No Ban Reasoning for Alolan Exeggutor

On the other hand, the main argument suggesting that Alolan Exeggutor wasn't broken was that its typing left it with a lot of common weaknesses and that it was checked rather easily through offensive pressure. While the Trick Room set was an issue, priority users like Kangaskhan and Abomasnow could easily deal with a weakened Alolan Exeggutor, and it could be pressured into not setting up Trick Room. This was a fundamental part of the argument, since Alolan Exeggutor wasn't as threatening without Trick Room being up. The Choice Specs had its own issues, namely requiring careful prediction against teams with switch-ins to all of its moves. It also was extremely exploitable once locked into a move, which could result in a loss of momentum and potential free setup opportunities for opponents. There was also room for adaptation, with sets like Destiny Bond Qwilfish, Roar Mudsdale, and Hidden Power Ice Lilligant seeing more usage to prevent Alolan Exeggutor from running rampant, while Pokémon such as Specially Defensive Alolan Sandslash and Metang were seen as common glue Pokémon on balance teams to check Alolan Exeggutor. Lastly, people brought up that Alolan Exeggutor was just another good wallbreaker like Stoutland and Drampa.

Closing Words

With Alolan Exeggutor now banned from PU, building is less constricting and easier. Pokémon such as Quagsire and Mudsdale, which used to let Alolan Exeggutor in for free, are better. Both Offense and Balance teams, which were extremely susceptible to Alolan Exeggutor's OTR and Choice Specs set respectively, don't have to worry about Alolan Exeggutor, bolstering their viabillity. The tree got cut down, so we'd say the meta looks much healthier on paper.

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